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IFC : Fertilizer Plant 70% Complete

IFC

Iowa Fertilizer Company is confident its new plant in northern Lee County will be up and running before the end of 2015.

The construction site near Wever easily stands out on the horizon.

During the day, it's due to the giant cranes and constant traffic heading to and from the plant while at night, giant floodlights make it hard for drivers traveling Highway 61 to miss.

The company said in a recent announcement that construction is now 70% complete.

Credit IFC

IFC President Shawn Rana said there are more than 2,700 people working at the plant, in large part, because of the weather during the months of December and January.

"The winter here has been reasonably mild, so the work here has progressed quite smoothly and we are still on track."

The current timeline calls for construction to wrap up in August with operations getting underway a couple months later.

Rana said the construction of the plant is having a significant impact on the entire region.

"Businesses are seeing the benefits of us being here.  Whether it's a gas station or pizza parlor all the way to companies that services industries like ours, so I think all of those companies are seeing benefits."

The roughly $2-billion plant is expected to produce about two-million tons of fertilizer annually.

Rana said the plant is being built with growth in that number in mind.

"We have some excess capacity... and opportunities built into the design of the plant already, so when we expand, we will take advantage of those built-in opportunities already engineered into the design."

IFC has said it will have about 240-permanent employees at the plant.  It wants to hire local workers as often as possible.

Jason Parrott is a former reporter at Tri States Public Radio.